Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of customer relationship management (CRM) data processing systems and methodologies and more particularly to partnership relationship management (PRM) in a CRM data processing system.
Description of the Related Art
CRM refers to the interaction that a business entity enjoys with its customers, whether the business entity provides sales or services to the customer. CRM is often thought of as a business strategy that enables business managers to understand the customer, to retain customers through better customer experience, to attract new customers, increase profitability and to decrease customer management costs. In real terms, however, CRM systems are used specifically to manage business contacts, clients, contract wins and sales leads. As such, CRM solutions provide the end user with the customer business data necessary to provide services or products desired by the customers, to provide better customer service, to cross-sell and to up-sell more effectively, to close deals, retain current customers and understand the identity of the customer.
The advent of the Internet has changed the changed the way in which end users approach CRM strategies because advances in technology have also changed consumer buying behavior and especially the way in which businesses communicate with customers and collect data about those customers. More than the past, self-service channels such as the World Wide Web (“Web”) and more recently, the mobile computing world, have become the norm rather than the exception leading to easier ways in which to manage customer information electronically.
Partner relationship management (PRM) is business strategy related to CRM in which communication between different companies and respective channel partners can be improved. Web-based PRM software applications enable companies to customize and streamline administrative tasks by making shipping schedules and other real-time information available to all the partners over the Internet. Recently, several CRM application vendors have incorporated into their core CRM application some PRM features, such as Web-enabled spreadsheets shared through an extranet. However, the integration of PRM features into the core CRM system remains mostly an exercise in publishing PRM information to partners. Notably absent from modern PRM integrated CRM systems is two-way coordination of PRM data.